House Chores After Work = Bad For Your Health?!

[Deena Bishop]

Who has heard that oh so famous excuse: "I just got home. Let me relax." Well turns out you really need it!!! A study published in the Journal of Family Psychology suggested that doing house chores after a stressful day of work prevents the body from reducing the levels of the stress hormone Cortisol. And after a stressful day, doing more stressful work can be physically and emotionally detrimental to your health.

 

The study found that when house work is all done, couples' Cortisol levels drop -- But there's a catch... it depends on who's actually doing the work. When men pitched in, the woman's levels dropped because they got help with it. But the only time when men's levels dropped was when he was not doing any of the work and his partner was. Studies also showed that 30% of women do chores after work (compared to 20% of men), and 19% of men participate in leisure activities after work (compared to 11% of women).

 

The hormone may help us get ready for challenging tasks, but our bodies don't respond well to having too much of the hormone being produced. After a stressful day at work (which causes cortisol levels to peak), it is supposed to be dropped in the evening. Consistently high levels of the hormone can lower our resistance to physical ailments and even lead to early death! 

 

Maybe now, more men will be motivated to help do chores like dishes and laundry knowing that it might help their partner live longer. Or not. And maybe some of you can use this excuse on your parents to make them allow free time right after school!!! Why not say "Mom, I can't do the dishes tonight, I might die early!" ;) Let me know what you think about this study! Is it legit????

 

 

[Aricela Marquez]

Relaxation is needed! Think about it. Who is going to do chores right after a stressful day and do it correctly or even willingly?? I know with all the stress I had this year I have put more alone time to just recollect my thoughts and it usually helps me.

[Keely Ward]

I think this study is really accurate. I am always telling my mom how I won't do chores after school, I need some amount of time just to relax. School itself can be exahusting, and then having to do more work right after you get home can't seem like a good idea. I'm glad someone did a study on this.

[Ashlyn Jensen]

I hate being so stressed all day and then coming home, and having someone bark at me to do some stupid chore. I'll definitley be trying thid one out, "mom i cant walk the dog, i need my stress levels to reduce, you do it!!!" Ill probably just got yelled at even more.

[Deena Bishop]

My mom always yells at me when I get home after 7 hours of School and then 6 hours of Work to get my room cleaned or to do some ridiculous task like re-arrange the bookshelf. It's like "SERIOUSLY?! I just got home and I have homework to stress over. I don't need this too!!!" I actually showed her the study and she told me it was a load of s**t... hahaha So it doesn't work with everyone's parents, but oh well! worth a try!!!!!!!!!! ;)

[Alanna Krivanek]

This is great. I hate coming home from school, work or practice and my mom expects me to do house work. I'm already stressed as is, why add more to it? And i definetly love the pic on here ;)

[megan majewski]

thank god someone did  a study on it, so your parents cant yell at you for being lazy after school when honestly you are tired and dont want to do anything. after 6 or more hours of learning and other things relaxing is all that should be important when you get home, not some chores you can do later.

[Connor Bieda]

I think this could be an accurate study because when I get home all I want to do is sleep and not do anything else.

[Megan Teschner]

i think this can definitely be an accurate study. whenever i get home from work im so tired, i never want to do anything. when my mom tells me to do a few chores after work, i start to get stress.

[Grace Stapleton]

I think it's just a new exscuse. Just do your chores and don't think too much into it. I do what I'm told and I feel fine.

[Michael Weber]

I think it was interesting that men and women were different. I also found this study very interesting.